This page is a container serving as a basis for communication during the CERN OHL v2 drafting process. It has the draft text attached, as well as an embryo of the Frequently Asked Questions which will accompany the release.
Frequently Asked Questions about CERN OHL v2
CERN OHL v2 general questions
Q: What does CERN OHL v2 try to achieve?
A: The CERN Open Hardware Licence aims at providing a solid legal basis for the sharing of hardware designs. In version 2, we intend to give Licensors different options for the sharing mechanism: strongly reciprocal, weakly reciprocal and permissive.
Q: What is the scope of CERN OHL v2?
A: The licence is meant to cover Open Source Hardware (OSHW) designs. It has no concern with proprietary developments. When we drafted it, we also made sure it can be used for free and open source software, even if that is not its main aim,
Q: What are the rights the licence rests upon?
A: The licence text makes no assumptions about the rights that will be invoked to sustain it. These may include but are not limited to copyright, patents, design rights, and database rights.
Q: Why is CERN doing this?
A: One of the most important parts of CERN's mandate is knowledge dissemination. OSHW is a natural way to disseminate hardware designs done at CERN to the rest of society. It is also important that a licence such as CERN OHL is stewarded by an institution whose mandate and values can guarantee its stability over time.
Q: Why not use existing licences such as GPL and any in the family of Creative Commons licences?
A: The CERN OHL was drafted with hardware in mind. The fact that the licensed materials are going to take part in the process of creating hardware has various implications. For example, the presence of patents is more pervasive in the hardware world than in software or in works of art. The CERN OHL appropriately has a patent licensing section, which is lacking for example in CC licenses. The realities of hardware design in terms of design tools are also very different from those of software. It is for example very common to design Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) using proprietary tools with proprietary libraries which are an integral part of the final design. Something similar happens with the design of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). These realities need to be taken into account in the drafting of the licence if we don't want a strong copyleft licence which can only apply in an extremely reduced number of cases. Finally, it is important for a licence to contain text that practitioners can easily relate to. The CERN OHL strives to use clear terms and definitions that have easily recognisable and intuitive meanings for hardware designers.
Q: Will you seek OSI and FSF approval/endorsement?
A: Yes, we want the CERN OHL to be as respectful of the four freedoms and the Open Source Definition as established free and open source software licences. The process of getting endorsement or approval from these respected institutions will surely make the licence better.
Q: Is this licence a contract? If it is, what is the consideration in this contract?
A: Yes, the CERN OHL is a contract. Bare licences don't exist in civil law countries. Both Licensors and Licensees have obligations under the CERN OHL which count as consideration.
Questions about reciprocal hardware licensing
Q: Copyright does not cover hardware. How do you implement strongly reciprocal licensing in CERN OHL v2?
A: Roughly speaking, the hardware equivalent of a binary object in the free and open-source software world would be a tangible object made thanks to design files licensed under an OSHW licence. So implementing a reciprocal licence involves solving the challenge of ensuring that the recipient of a piece of hardware gets access to the original design files. CERN OHL v2 provides two mechanisms to ensure that:
- The licence explicitly asks a Licensee to provide an easy way to access the design Source to recipients of products when (s)he makes and distributes products based on CERN OHL licensed designs.
- For cases in which a tangible piece of hardware changes hands many times before reaching the final recipient, it is impossible to enforce the obligations above without making the licence text much more complicated and incurring in many extra contractual relations. The original designer though, can make it much more likely for the recipient to get access to the design files by including a URL or similar in the design, in a place where it will result in a visible imprinted label in the final object. The CERN OHL requests that downstream Licensees respect that Notice and modify it accordingly if they modify the design files.
Questions about software
Q: A CERN OHL licensed design contains a processor running code. What are the implications on the code of using CERN OHL v2 for the hardware?
A: The CERN OHL license does not extend to the code running in that processor. The processor falls under the definition of "Available Component". So does the flash (or other) memory chip that may host the code prior to power-up. The CERN OHL has no concern with the contents of that flash. You could of course choose to licence that code under a Free and Open Source licence, e.g. GPL, but that is independent of your choice of licensing for the board as a hardware design.
Questions about FPGA and ASIC design
Q: An ASIC or FPGA design is licensed under CERN OHL v2. What are the implications regarding proprietary primitives and macros used in the design?
A: Proprietary blocks readily available in the design tools fall under the definition of "Available Components" and it is therefore not required to ship them when you distribute the design sources or products based on those designs.
Q: Is an FPGA bitstream a Product according to the definition of Product in CERN OHL v2?
A: Yes, a bitstream results from the processing of source files and is therefore a Product.
Questions about patents
Q: I find the section on patents a bit confusing. Can you explain to me in plain words what you are trying to achieve?
Questions about practical use of the licence
Q: What are all these suffixes?
Q: How should I handle Notices?
Questions about Termination
Q: What happens to the rights of the Licensees of a Licensor if the rights of the Licensor under this licence are terminated?
A: It's his rights as licensee that terminate. He is still a licensor, and therefore the rights of downstream licensees are not affected.